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How Long Can Student Loans Hurt Your Credit?

We get questions and comments from distressed student borrowers wondering exactly how long missteps in repaying their student loans are likely to continue to hurt their credit. It can feel like student loans cast a very long shadow that is hard to escape.

How long student loan problems can affect your credit isn’t always clear, because they don’t all work the same way.

One thing is clear: If you have private student loans, they should be treated like any other negative event, cycling off your credit report after seven years from the date of the late payment. So a negative mark on your private loan (and most federal student loans) will cease to hurt your credit after that time frame.

But there is one type of federal loan — a Perkins loan — that can stay on your credit report until the loan has been paid in full, even if it is longer than seven years. This is not true for other types of student loans. The special treatment of a Perkins loan was a provision of the Higher Education Act. Perkins loans are distributed by colleges, and they are a need-based type of loan, with interest deferred while the student is still in school. No other type of student loan delinquency stays on your credit report until the loan is paid off.

We work hard and strive to deliver great results with our clients’ credit and debt goals always in mind. That is what makes us your ONE stop shop for all your credit and debt needs.

Call us at 844-FIX-URCR or visit us at 6416 Gateway E.

*Individual results may vary. Please call for more details and to discuss your own individual situation.